


Between

by CatNerdsOut



Category: Captain Marvel (2019), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: About Carol’s haircut, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Personal Canon, Post-Canon, Sappy, but not depressing, set during endgame
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:48:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26516224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatNerdsOut/pseuds/CatNerdsOut
Summary: Life happens even between snaps.Set during Endgame.  Carol and Yon-Rogg navigate a new normal.
Relationships: Carol Danvers/Yon-Rogg
Comments: 8
Kudos: 53





	Between

**Author's Note:**

> Hey Cat, how’s that “break” going?  
> I’ll do better next time.

* * *

One

* * *

She’s sitting with Soren by a picturesque coastline when it begins.Under the artificial sunlight with a simulated sky overhead, it’s easy to forget they are in dead space drifting in the endless expanse.But there’s no wind, no smell of the sea spray, just the hum of the ship and its crew.

A glass shatters the background drone of voices.They both glance over to see the pitcher broken on floor, its contents bleeding out across the tiles. They look around for the owner and see... nothing.

Carol whips her head around wildly and that’s when she sees an older Skrull gasp and drop to their knees.As they fall an invisible wave washes over them turning their skin from green to gray.They hover for a moment, suspended somewhere between living and dead.Then that last tether holding all of them together snaps and they crumble in on themselves, dissolving into dust.Then even that is gone.

Carol stares shocked and horrified at Soren, the raw terror reflected back in wide purple eyes.Together they break into a run, tearing through the ship’s corridors in a mad dash to find Talos.When they find him, he’s the only one in the room.

They all begin sobbing, locking arms around each other and leaning into each other as if the absence of one would leave the other two unsteady.Sobs ring out for what feels like hours but is likely just minutes before in unison they snap into action.Tears are wiped dry and suddenly they are back in battle.But there’s no foe to stand against; there’s just the dread and uncertainty of cataloging who is missing and who is left.

Soren and Talos frantically try to contact their daughters, but their comms are down.No one’s picking up.And that’s when Carol’s communicator begins to wail.

Fury.Earth.Events speed up, racing towards...what exactly?One minute she’s fumbling with an explanation and the next Soren and Talos are escorting her, practically dragging her, to an airlock.She’s more than a day away even hurtling through space at her full strength.That’s too long.It’s too much time.

“We’re fine here.They need you there,” Talos insists.A lie she doesn’t believe,but she steps through the hatch all the same.

But it isn’t the only place she’s needed.

She ends up back on an Earth more alien to her than familiar.She’s surrounded by strangers that claim to know Fury, but there’s no Fury.It’s beyond unsettling, this new reality they all find themselves thrust into.They escort her to a wide conference room, offering up snacks and water while two of them go to pull coordinates for her to search for their missing team.She drops into an empty chair and lets out a long exhale.

Alone in the stillness she forgets the mental armor she’s worn, forgets to force down the dread that has been building with every breath since this nightmare began.Her eyes sting as tears gather, and she wills them not fall.The last thing any of them would want is her crying over this.They would want her to fix it.But she doesn’t know how.

She pulls up her communicator, steeling herself against the next inevitable blow, the next loss.If he’s even still alive what solar cycle is it on?Will long range communications even work with trillions of people trying to contact loved ones spread across the galaxies?She sends a brief text file on their private channel:

_‘Are you okay?’_

The chiming response is instant, even accounting for the delay across the vast distance between them he must have been staring at his device the second her message reached him.She can picture him, tense, still, ready to snap at anyone who might try to pull him away from staring fixated at the comm like a lifeline while his mind rushes through every possible innocuous scenario to explain why she hadn’t contacted him.Anything but the worst likely fear to explain the silence.

_‘I’m fine.’_

The second chime rushes after the first, as though in his haste to let her know he was still out there he failed to complete his response, unwilling to make her to endure another confused moment without knowing his fate.

_‘Thanks for asking.’_

The rush of relief is overwhelming.Carol bows her head and finally allows the tears fall.

* * *

Two

* * *

Carol returns to Earth more despondent than before.The stones are gone.Their only lead on learning how to proceed is a dead titan, beheaded before they could even finish questioning him.They file out of the ship in silence.She can’t stay here permanently, but she isn’t quite sure where to go first.She stares up to the stars and sees a million worlds that need help.The lights blur and she blinks her eyes.

She heads into the compound to find the least lived-in room to bunk down for the night.The door closes with a soft click and she sags against it before sinking to the ground.She opens the private channel.It’s been long enough since it happened that maybe visual will go through.

Yon-Rogg answers almost immediately and the weeks of fears and frustrations tumble from her lips.In a rush she explains she’s on Earth, that Thanos tracked the final infinity stones to her home planet and unleashed his terror from there.

He sighs and shakes his head in that way which tells her he’s weighing everything she’s saying against the limited information his superiors have relayed.He says nothing, but she imagines his thoughts nonetheless.‘ _Of course this all began on C-53.That planet only breeds tragedy.’_

She knows how he feels about her home world.He has made no secret of it over the years.Usually it’s irritating, his distain for what he views as a primitive backwater sparks her ire like a stone against flint, but emotions are too raw in the aftermath and right now it feels true.Too many things are broken here, but they have their own people to assemble the pieces into something new.She can’t stay here when so many other planets need her.She doesn’t think she’d want to even if they asked.

She also wishes she could see his face more clearly than the broken blue tiles making up the holographic display.

“Well if that’s the case, I’m sending the coordinates for my ship.I’ll be here until further notice.”Suddenly he’s anything but somber, he’s alert and focused.The faint banter pulls her back toward something of herself, a step out of the despair that surrounds her.

Oh, she had said that out loud apparently.

There’s something strange in his voice, a new edge to his tone.He’s too quick to offer his location when she’s spent years of too-brief conversations trying to coax out of him just what corner of the universe he’s on.

“Won’t your team have a problem with a Kree traitor just showing up for a social call?”She speaks with a levity greater than either of them feel.If things weren’t already tense enough, she’s trying to make light of one of the most contentious aspects of their association.For years it had been hurried calls on their channel or clandestine meetings on border worlds when he could slip away.They don’t bother with soft words.Their relationship is a heady mix of teasing and serious, but rarely, if ever, soft.And it never so boldly skirts the lines of where they stand politically.This was the least like him she could recall if he’s flat-out inviting her onto a Kree scout ship with his team around and deployed on a mission.

He must need help, she presumes.Because it can’t possibly be anything else.It can’t be the simple need to see her, to verify she’s real and solid when everything is crumbling into ash around them.Those are needs of people who say soft words, but not him.

“Carol,” he hesitates, “I’m the only one left.”

When she finally arrives at the marked system in a frontier sector with twin stars, she arcs around the ship splitting the sky with a line of fire.Yon-Rogg waits for her near the port-side airlock, clicking his tongue and chiding her for showing off unnecessarily.His frustration gives way the minute she steps on board.She barely has time to offer a greeting before he’s hauling her towards him, wrapping his arms around her.

“This is new,” she mumbles into his shoulder.

He laughs, but it sounds broken and false.

“I worried,” he admits between peppering her face with hurried, desperate kisses.

“I always come back.”She smiles before catching his lips with hers, returning his affections.It had been months since they were together and then thinking he was gone... maybe they can occasionally bother with soft words now.She slants her mouth against his and pours all her fears into the kiss.

He’s doing the same.The more she pushes back, the hungrier his response.He’s devouring her as though he never thought he would have her again.His hands fist in her hair and she winces.They’re both in uniform.His gloves are on and golden strands catch in the grooves.

“Loose the gloves,” she whispers smiling against his mouth.

“Loose the suit,” he counters as they stumble to his bunk.

Three months after Thanos’ death, Yon-Rogg still orbits the same twin stars.

“Do you still have food?” Carol asks as she steps onto the ship.Without any discussion of the matter on either of their parts, his ship has become her way station between cosmic errands.In between checking on this colony or that capital she stops, she resets.She tells herself she would do this for anyone in his situation, this frequent visitation, even if she knows it’s a lie.But she never stays long, it feels too unfair to the countless peoples that were left behind.

“We were only four days into a six-month reconnaissance operation,” he explains.Rations tends to last longer when there’s only one person left.

“What were you even supposed to be monitoring?”

He looks at her pointedly and crosses his arms.

“Right, of course,” she nods with a sarcastic roll.Some things they still could not discuss.“It just seems weird that Starforce would be deployed for so long on what amounts to a scouting trip.”

“You know I don’t question orders.”

It was a well-trod argument, going back to when Carol herself was Starforce.Yon-Rogg would nod and accept the mission while she tried to squeeze every detail before gauging her own level of enthusiasm.The result was the same: action, but they took different paths to get there.His was less prone to outright questioning of superiors.Still, the offhanded comments heshared with her made her suspect he questioned and doubted far more than he would ever admit to.

“So why haven’t you been recalled to Hala?”

He gives her a critical look, as if he’s assessing whether or not she actually wishes he were called back or is merely probing for any dissatisfaction he may hold towards the Kree military, another longstanding dispute.

“The military is not convinced our surveillance target is gone,” he answers with some reluctance.Considering his earlier refusal to divulge any information he’s sharing quite a bit, but really who’s she going to tell?

“But you disagree?”

He shrugs, but refuses to voice his opposition outright.By now Carol is familiar enough with his minor rebellions against his superiors.They still delight her, the small ways in which he skirts his orders, not acting how a proper Kree would.It sends a tendril of pleasure sliding down her spine that pools in her belly.

She’s a bad influence.It’s wonderful.

And he’s not a proper Kree, different but more like her than he would ever acknowledge with his goading and teasing.The familiar thought comes unbidden but still thrills her as much as the first time she realized.She’s been a constant fixture in his life too long for him to remain blindly devoted to the Kree dogma.He’s moved from rigid, inflexible truths to malleable shades of gray.

A proper Kree wouldn’t have held onto her through the years through all the demotions and the fallout from what he still sardonically calls his _greatest failure_.

A proper Kree wouldn’t love with such fierce devotion she thinks fondly.

Maybe one day he’ll finally get fed up enough with all of it and agree to come with her.They could steal the ship and be away from Kree influence before anyone from Hala was wise.

Her eyes scan the inventory in the galley, silently calculating exactly how long his provisions will last a single person, or how long they’ll last for two assuming she remains aboard for longer periods of time.

“Well, I only dropped by to say hi.I have to go check on some other places.”She starts towards the lock.

He catches her by the arm and spins him to face him.Placing his hands on her hips he murmurs a gentle, “Hi.”

“And now, I need to go.”It’s hard to insist with him looking at her like that.

“Five more minutes.”His eyes are pleading and one hand is inching towards her hair.

She leaves as the morning cycle begins.

Eventually the military reestablishes itself and he is given assignments, though with substantially more leeway than in the months prior to Thanos’ actions.The Kree Empire’s ever expanding boarders are now a greater liability as independent groups try to pillage and raid ships traveling the supply lines.Though Yon-Rogg has lost all his crew, the stealth ship is able to be operated by a single person and is retasked for covert monitoring of their outposts.

Still, he’s not always sent where he’s needed.

Whenever he moves to a new location, he sends his coordinates through their channel.Dangerous for someone on stealth missions, but even when she teasingly points out the lapse, he merely cocks an eyebrow at her and says he’ll take her comment under advisement.The coordinates continue to stream through their sporadic messages like love notes.Sometimes she drops by unannounced.His lonely ship is starting to feel like home.

Her hair fans across his chest and he combs his fingers through it idly.

“How long before they notice you’re playing hooky?”She peers up at him, frowning as he catches a snag.

“By my count, I have about twenty hours before I need to check in with my superiors.”

“That’s longer than before.I thought the Kree had mostly gotten the military back up and running.”

“The Supremor is tasked to its limit with half the Collective gone,” he finally works the knot free and resumes toying with her hair.

“I’ll bet,” she sounds mildly pleased.

He peers at her strangely before realizing they are discussing two different Collectives.

“No, Carol, when Thanos wiped out have of all life he didn’t confine the genocide to organics.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that the Collective, the synthetic memories and beings of the great past Kree, their consciousness are pieces that make up the Supreme Intelligence.They are still living within the databanks.When half of life everywhere was removed, the Intelligence lost half of itself.”

“Am I supposed to feel badly about that?” She asks.

“No.I’m simply explaining why I am less concerned about being caught than in the past.”

One of the most recent locations she scouts near the edge of Kree territory is headquarters to a band of slavers.Unlike most groups motivated purely by profit, this outfit has already established a brutal reputation for killing their captives during any rescue or escape attempts.This is not something she can do alone.

Yon-Rogg gives her a soft smile when she arrives.“Back again?” he asks with mock innocence.

“I’m actually here for more than _that_.”She smirks before she launches into an explanation.

His eyes ignite, first with interest and then excitement builds.He’s been bored, slowly withering away in the void orbiting twin stars devoid of mission or reprieve.While he’s outwardly calm, she can see all the telltale signs.Inwardly he’s practically bouncing with barely contained glee.He used to get this way before a mission, tense and focused.It used to drive her crazy how his world would narrow to just the mission intel.Now she’s allowing his excitement bleed onto her.It’s been too long since they worked together.

In unison they head to the mission console and she begins pulling up scans, energy signatures, everything she frantically recorded.He begins sifting through the data, his hands making sweeping arcs and small jabs at the projections, adding notes as his tactician’s mind begins weaving a plan.

Carol watches approvingly.How could the Empire waste him out here alone?How much more could he do if he would just leave?

They spend the next day reviewing and refining the plan with Carol as the diversion while Yon-Rogg focuses on the prisoners.When he asks for the location, she halts.

“We’re taking the ship?”

“You say there are at least four dozen captives on that planet, how else would you propose we get them off world?”

And he’s right.She simply failed to connect him coming with her to him bringing the ship.

“You’ll be deserting your post,” she points out.Carol’s not even sure why she is bringing this up when it’s what she’s been craving for years.

He gives her a tiny smile.“They’ll never know.”

She grins back.She’s such a terrible influence.

He slips into the base near the holding cages while she begins firing destruction and marches off towards the command center.The pens are electrified, as expected, but the access panel shows backup power and is rigged against tampering.He needs a power outage to use the resulting delay before the generators kick on to force the doors open.

“Vers,” he says into the headset.

He hears a distant, unfamiliar scream and the cannon-like sound of energy firing before she answers.

“There’s no Vers here, just Carol,” she tuts.

“Habit.We’re in combat,” he points out.

“I’m just saying you’ve known Carol longer than Vers.It seems weird to claim it’s habit at this point.”

“Well whoever I am talking to, I need a power outage.”

“Got it.”

Two guards come running down the corridor to dispatch the prisoners.He overpowers them easily.Another series of cracks and pops filter through the feed before she starts a brief countdown.After ‘ _one_ ’ the lights flickers out and he forces the gates open before the backup electricity pops and sputters to life.

He’s loaded up the ship with all of the captives with the constant sounds of battle ringing through his headset. 

“We’re clear.About to lift off,” he reports to no answer.

He hesitates.“Ver—Carol,” he corrects, “are you—”

“I’m _fine_ ,” she grinds out.“Now go.”

Once they break the atmosphere the short range frequency devolves into static.He takes the ship to the prearranged coordinates, orbiting a large asteroid near one of the sector’s busier settlements, established enough to have embassies to help the rescued groups return home.

And then he waits.And worries.And then chastises himself for worrying.Besides the Supreme Intelligence, she’s the closest thing to an immortal he knows, and even that is somehow untrue because the Supremor is half dead and she is all alive.Yet dread continues to choke him as the minutes tick on.He’s back to a year prior, staring at his comm in an empty hull praying to his ancient gods and new one that she’s still out there somewhere.

Then fire rips through the sky and Yon-Rogg suddenly feels he can breathe again.Carol is stepping onto the ship, flames winking out as his passengers rush with open arms to thank their savior.A sea of heads separate them, but her eyes land on him like the rest don’t exist.

Later they divide the people in groups and Carol leads the first to the shuttle for her to pilot down to the settlement.Before the hatch closes she gives him a teasing smirk with a shake of her head like there’s more she wants to say, but won’t.

“I’m going to submit the report to the hierarchy,” he decides once she’s returned from the final shuttle run.It’s a risk, admitting that he had abandoned his post even temporarily and traveled to another system.But the slavers’ base bordered Kree space and though some of the populace still tolerates the buying and selling of flesh, the government stance has been decidedly against the practice for years.Yon-Rogg’s gambit is that his superiors will be more concerned about the emboldened slavers than his defiance of their orders to remain at his post.He could be recalled, or demoted and she feels a tremor of guilt that all his demotions have involved her.

But the idea of him openly defying his superiors equally terrifies and thrills her and her hand finds his to steady herself.His fingers lace with hers.

“I’ll say I heard a distress signal or something.”

“Do me a favor and leave me out of your report,” she says dryly.

Yon-Rogg huffs with a trace of exasperation.“Obviously.”

She finds herself justifying two-person teams with increasing frequency.It’s more efficient, with less damage.She refuses to tell Yon-Rogg that it’s nice having him around.Over time he begins showing her his after action reports he has taken upon himself to submit to high command.As expected, they are sterilized versions of events with flimsy pretexts for the missions.If the Empire, like everyone else, wasn’t still reeling from Thanos’ annihilation, they might even take the time to realize half of these undertakings serve no strategic purpose for the Kree.

It’s two years post-snap before he makes the suggestion one night cycle when they are curled up in his narrow cot.

“There are still no plans to assign me a new team,” he confesses.

“Oh really?”She tilts her head to look at him fully and winces when her hair catches on his fingers.

“Apparently the hierarchy feels I have been operating quite effectively in an individual capacity.”

“Image that,” she smirks.

“I have been given more leeway to pursue matters to benefit the security of the Empire.”

“So that means...”

“I can take this ship wherever we need to go.”

It’s been ages since he’s had this kind of liberty.Possibly more than before since the military’s resources are so limited.If she were an optimist, she’d think the Kree are turning over a new leaf, adapting to this new normal in a universe half what it once was and that maybe something good could spring from all the bad.But she’s not an optimist.They simply lack the strength to reclaim the ship should he finally turn traitor with his renegade paramour.This was to keep him under the Empire’s thumb at least in some capacity.

But they both have something closer to what they want, so she forces herself not to care.

When her visits or their missions overlap with status calls with the survivors from the failed battle on Earth, he slinks away to the far edge of the ship.There is not much space, but he affords her what privacy he can.

While the Terrans fret about the tatters of their home planet, it seems only Carol and two others are working to secure any stability among the stars.She and the small rodent trade barbs before dividing up the newest list of locations.Later she and Yon-Rogg sort her list into near and far, ones they can accomplish together and which ones he will investigate while she addresses the distant coordinates.

The next time she returns and steps onto their ship, their home she secretly thinks, she finds him gaping at her.

“What did you do to your hair?”

It’s funny how similarly his shocked inquiry echoes a previous time and a previous question.She almost snorts with amusement, someone doesn’t like change.Instead she grins rakes her fingers through his hair.

* * *

Three

* * *

Carol leans her shoulder against Yon-Rogg’s as they wait the remaining hour for the ship to finish refueling.

“You know I could just tow you to wherever we need to go.”

He quirks an eyebrow at her.“Aside from the fact that the lack of fuel consumption would look highly suspicious in my reports-”

“Seriously?” She cuts him off.“You still have expense reports?”

He chuckles and continues on as though she hadn’t interrupted at all.“I’m not sure I like the idea of being completely at your mercy.”

She smirks.“Oh really?”

He keeps his face carefully blank despite the heat on his neck, but nods in concession, “At least with that.”

In the quiet moments like these, Carol almost feels guilty.In spite of everything wrong in the universe, this one thing they carved out together is right.

Their comms light up simultaneously.Messages from voices whose tone and pitch have long since faded with time and memory.

Carol stands up abruptly and turns towards the hanger.“I have to go.”

Yon-Rogg grabs her by the wrist.“Go where?”

“If people are back, that means right now the stones are unprotected. I need to get there, now.”

“Carol,” he sounds almost frantic, “you don’t even where the stones are.”

“Yes, I do.”There’s only one place in the universe they could be.

The doors to the ship slide open and from across the hanger they watch as one of his crew walks down the ramp in a daze.Yon-Rogg’s eyes leap back to Carol’s.She’s already on her feet, igniting her hands and ready to launch headlong into the void.

“You better come back,” his voice is raised and she knows how he must hate how anxious he sounds.

She summons the best display of bravado she can.“I always do.”

* * *

Four

* * *

And then it’s over.

The battle ends and though there are sacrifices, it’s impossible not to be caught up in the hopefulness that settles over everyone.There are tears and reunions and she’s so caught up in how different this is from the last time she was on Earth that she forgets about all else until her comm chirps hours later.

‘ _Are you okay?’_

She laughs and types their standard response.

Days later and still on Earth, her private channel pings with a new message.It’s simply a set of coordinates.She rushes through her goodbyes and flings herself to the stars.

She steps onto the ship that has become more of a home over the past five years and braces herself for the inevitable confrontation with Yon-Rogg’s crew.But the ship is suspiciously silent.

“Hello?” She calls out, awkwardly.

Yon-Rogg appears.

“Where’s your team?” She gestures to the emptiness.

“They’ve been recalled to Hala.”

Reality finally found them, apparently.She braces herself for his parting words, resigning herself to a future full of hurried messages and far too infrequent meetings.

“And you-?”

“Actually, I’ve been recommended for more solo missions.”He looks as smug as she’s ever seen him.

“Seriously,” her mouth falls open.“They’re cutting you loose?”

“There was no cutting and I am still retaining my rank.My responsibilities have simply been altered.”He’s so pleased with himself he’s practically preening.

“The Supreme Intelligence has to know what you’ve been up to,” after a beat “with me.”

“I am not one to question their wisdom,” he answers sagely, eyes dancing.

“So long as you get your way.”

He almost smiles, but says nothing.

“So they gave you the ship.”

“I did explain that I may on occasion need to take on more crew.”

Carol rolls her eyes with a grin and folds her arms over her chest.“So you’re freelancing.”

“And would you be interested in a little... freelancing?”

She throws her head back and laughs, freer than she’s felt in years.Then stops, suddenly serious.They may have changed over the past five years, but the now rushes to catch up with the past.

“You know we won’t always be on the same side,” she says.

“I’m well aware.I’m working on it.”

“And sometimes I’ll still have to go three galaxies away to help someone and you might not be able to follow.”

He rests a finger under her chin and tilts her face to his.“So long as you always come back to me.”

“I could probably manage that.”

**Author's Note:**

> Cat, did you just basically write a fic about a haircut?  
> Sure did. :D


End file.
